After months of improvement, Utah’s labor market is bumping against a ceiling that it won’t break through until the U.S. economy picks up, the top economist at the Department of Workforce Services said Friday.
"The nice bounce that we had coming out of the bottom of the recession 18 months ago [is losing momentum],’’ Mark Knold said. "Now, we are going to need other factors to step in to push the growth to a higher level."
On Friday, the department reported that the statewide unemployment rate had moved to 5.8 percent in March, up a notch from 5.7 percent in January and February. The jobless rate during those months was the lowest since November 2008, when the recession was less than a year old and getting worse.
Knold said the growth ceiling probably will stay in place through the rest on this year and may persist into the early months of 2013. That’s because Utah, which often operates at a higher rate than the U.S. economy, is facing headwinds that it can’t overcome alone. Rising gasoline prices are eroding consumer spending power and adding to business costs. Applications for initial jobless benefits are rising across the country, housing is still stuck and the stock market seems to have reached a plateau. The U.S. economy is expected to continue growing through the year but at a more moderate pace. Salt Lake Tribune
